CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE live in OOSTENDE, BELGIUM

[Absoluteg0]

Agree it sounds like strumming music

[EndlessNot1]

saw him in Victoriaville with Perlonex..indescribable...grea­t Cognac also

[colmschate1]

I saw him live in Aachen. I do have a lp copy of strumming music, and the original version of the Aachen concert.

[glasvochtrecords]

i was there!

[stylofone]

A fantastic video. I've heard the recordings, but haven't seen a performance before this. It's extraordinary how these relatively lo-fi Youtube videos preserve so much of the integrity of his compositions. Yes, rascalrascal, you nailed it!

[tigerslap]

uh, video is a little short there pal.

:)

[rascalrascal]

he's oscillating, left/right, and he has this constant motion between bass/treb and with piano one could commonly say root/melody... with the octaves here, and his volume, he gets so many harmonics going that you hear multiple chordal/melodic possibilities. its this back and forth motion between those two that gets me, ritual, spinning

[written12]

Very good description- and a very helpful one for someone whose first reaction to the music is that it's maddeningly repetitive. There's much going on that cloud of drone.

[rascalrascal]

the problem is that we are trained to pick out a dominant melody when the trend of avant garde music has been looking at harmony, or the textural, or anything but the melody which is a fairly simple contrivance that can be sang ad infinitum in whatever limited tonal system is being employed (although not to make something 'great' obviously). since we're all about distinguishing and following these melodies, and its in our training, it can be physically difficult to hear what's really going on.

[HenryCornil]

I remember hearing him in Brussels in 1972. He already was able to make you hear a lot of different instruments only by using harmonics with his piano. But now, he gets this result in less than a minute!

[m4a3t2t1]

Someone please tell me what song this is? I have a few of his albums but this is not on any of them that I have. Was it only played live? Are there recordings of it out there? Thanks!

[TIMESTEREO]

I have never heard this song on a cd---I think Charlemagne usually improvises---he doesn't ever play the same song twice??? Maybe...

[maxalpz]

@TIMESTEREO

sounds a lot like "strumming music", or at least an improvisation based on it.

[HenryYouth]

I believe it's a piece called "Strumming Music", or a variation of it.

[guanaco1952]

hmmmm,,, monotonous.... lol

[guanaco1952]

heil Marx, Heil Communism!!!

[sonicspar]

*swoon*

[smaverik775]

man... he plays the piano like i like to hear the piano played! very textural